I actually really like this depiction of The Tower, I find it very easy on the eye.

Once again we see the theme of symmetry that seems so prevalent throughout this deck.

Against a deep brown background we see a golden tower. Lightning strikes the top of it which appears to be blown almost completely off and fire emerges from what's left of the tower.
On top of the tower (the bit that's being blown off) is a small purple flag with the symbol of Mars on it.
Falling from the tower are a golden female and male form, their bodies are curved and their arms are outstretched towards the floor.
They are surrounded by tiny spheres of black, red, white and gold - maybe a meteor shower, maybe the rubble from the stricken tower.
On the side of the tower is a large cross which looks a little like one of those slits used to fire arrows from but the sign of the cross brings to mind the notion of divine intervention or a sign or revelation sent from God or the Heavens.

I find it significant that in this depiction of The Tower there is no door so I presume that the people who are now falling from it's battlements were in fact prisoners inside.
Did they construct the tower themselves? Is it a prison of their own making which now they are free from?
It's this notion that makes me see The Tower as quite a positive card.
Yes, the tower has been destroyed by something completely out of the blue and it's occupants are now plummeting towards the earth but maybe The Tower needed to come down so that they could finally be free of it's constraints.

This then is numerically linked to The Chariot (they are both sevens), yet The Tower seems to be the antithesis of The Chariot which is a card about taking control. In The Tower control is taken away and we are in the hands of the gods....
Maybe this is why it's seen as such a scary card, as being out of control is the utmost in scariness for many people.

Comments about the significance of the Mars symbol are appreciated as astrology is not a strong point of mine.
Mars is a planet of war methinks...

The first thing I noticed in this card is those little coloured balls, or spheres, as you called them Sulis. They were interesting but I was really at a loss to figure out what they could represent. So I turned to the LWB, which says they "symbolise the seeds of both past and future". That was really interesting to me to think of these as 'seeds'. If the Tower is seen to represent something which causes you to begin building foundations once again, it is very hopeful and almost comforting to think that you have these seeds, that you can now move on to discard and leave behind or nourish and water in the Star. I'm reminded of a saying which goes something like, in every ending, there is the seeds of a new beginning.

I've been looking into the Tower card in general recently and have been considering it in terms of repressed anger or emotions which have been bottled up and now exploded. The Tower is a card of shake ups, rocked to the core. I began to think of it as what happens when you shake up a bottle of fizzy drink, you then let the pressure off by removing the cap, much like the lid has flipped off this tower... and out it all spills... pop! So in the Tower, is the lid being lifted, pressure released? In this respect, I saw the little balls as all the little things that had built up to that moment... the stack is blown!

The idea of the 'seed' also plays out quite well, with the more phallic interpretations of this card. And it also ties in quite nicely with Mars. In "Pictures of the Heart" there is a quote concerning Mars which I quite like "libido and passion without a brain". I've been turning my attention lately to the Greek myths, so Mars is Ares. In ancient times, he was said to be first associated with fertility, then later war. I also found it funny in a way that Ares consort is said to be Aphrodite... LOL... love and war! And the lightning bolt, a mark of Zeus, who is Ares father. I think that could probably be developed a whole lot further than I have here.

The two people on the card almost look like trapeze artists to me, like they are going to try to grab hold of one another as they fall from the Tower. That made me think of in such 'tower' like times how you try to grab on to what you know, the familiar, safe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sulis

On the side of the tower is a large cross which looks a little like one of those slits used to fire arrows from but the sign of the cross brings to mind the notion of divine intervention or a sign or revelation sent from God or the Heavens.

I'm glad you said that, as I had in my notes... cross??? Destruction of beliefs??? But I like yours much better!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sulis

This then is numerically linked to The Chariot (they are both sevens), yet The Tower seems to be the antithesis of The Chariot which is a card about taking control. In The Tower control is taken away and we are in the hands of the gods....
Maybe this is why it's seen as such a scary card, as being out of control is the utmost in scariness for many people.

I really like this also, I had a question mark there too.

Astrologically speaking, the only things that are coming to mind at the moment associated with Mars is firstly energy... Mars gets things done, it is about power of action. And that it is the ruler of the 1st house. Which is kind of interesting in terms of this card being seen as a breakdown of the ego or limiting self beliefs. The 1st house, is your image, what you think you are, how you appear to others, superficialities, the social mask but not your true self. But this is very basic, and I'm sure this is only scatching the surface there as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sulis

I find it significant that in this depiction of The Tower there is no door so I presume that the people who are now falling from it's battlements were in fact prisoners inside.
Did they construct the tower themselves? Is it a prison of their own making which now they are free from?

How funny I hadn't noticed there was no door. If there is no door how did they get in? I agree it must be self built.

I counted them. There's 5 of each colour except the red ones, there are only 3 of those. So if 5 can be be thought of as active/restless, then things associated with the '5' colours are all freaked out. Whereas the Red ones ( most like the nature of mars) are creative. Bear with me, keeping it simple.

Sooooo, this apparent 'destructive' activity contains within it the seeds of a new potential - if we could but seize them. However, we would need to be alert (mars), agressive (Mars), and enterprizing (Mars) to wrest this potential from the wreakage.......

Well I think that that is pretty fabulous! I wouldn't have thought to equate the red balls with Mars. And I like how you have spun it on it's head and the red balls (mars) are not the destructive aspects but the constructive ones. I was very much focussed on the Mars energy blowing it apart, when of course that very energy is what is needed to pull together.

Very interesting thoughts there! So what do you feel that the other coloured balls stand for? You said you simplified it... go ahead complicate it!

Oooops:
I copied the pic from Sulis' post and enlarged it, discovered there are 5 white, 5 gold, 4 black, and possibly 3 red, and 1 orange (top right).
So, that's blown the 5s and 3 out of the window! Maybe the actual card, rather than the pic, shows the colours more clearly....
Shame, 'cos it felt so clear to me!

However the Tower in this card seems like Geborah to me. Very destructive with the seed of new life in it. It performs a necessary, but ruthless task - stripping away all that is dross, un-needed, or over-developed. The cross seems to be a 'seal' that validates it's action (a sort of divine intervention.).

Odd that just Mars is on the flag, I would have thought maybe Uranus & Mars = sudden! - accident! - swift or unexpected catastrophe!

I pulled out the card for you, I still think you are onto something with the numbers...

There are 5 white, 5 gold, 5 black and 4 red. (I triple checked ) So you still have your 5's, it is just 4 red. I'm not a numbers expert but fours are foundation and stability. I still think you have something to work with here for your train of thought.

The reason I think the fact that there are only 4 red balls is significant is that everything else throughout this deck is symmetrical.

Well I added the seed-things up = 19 (Major: Sun). So this destruction is ultimately for the good, i.e. all-round wholeness. At any rate the Sun has a hand in it. (?)

Don't know how colours are assigned in this deck, but still think Red = energy (Mars). And if there are four seed-things (yods), then as you have said, stability! So Mars/Tower is *fundementally* going to *establish* something - well, something other than what's been destroyed.

This makes better sense than if there were 3 reds, because clearing the ground to establish something else doesn't actually introduce any brand-new factors, just retains certain elements of the old thing in a different arrangement. So Mars/4 is aggressively focussed on setting something up.

Remembered that Mars' old rulership is Scorpio. Despite the controversy of Pluto being a valid 'planet' - paired with Scorpio this combination is VERY much the Tower - razing something to the ground (and beneath!). And of course Mars is an 'inseminator'/inititiator.....

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